- State Government announces WA Innovator of the
Year winners
- Six finalists share in a $220,000 prize pool
- Portable PPB Pty Ltd named WA Innovator of the
Year
A high-tech portable gold
detector has caught the judges' eye at this year's prestigious WA Innovator of
the Year awards.
Innovation and Digital
Economy Minister Stephen Dawson commended Portable PPB Pty Ltd on taking out
the top prize for their highly sensitive detector, which was among a field of
17 finalists vying for the title.
Mr Dawson said the other
winners included a device to treat chronic ear infections for children at home
and an autonomous solar cleaning robotics system.
The six winners, who will
share in a total prize pool of $220,000, showcase the variety of impressive innovations
across many industries which are being developed here in Western Australia
The overall winners in
the five categories are:
- Rio Tinto Emerging Innovation Category Winner - Earflo
for their device which treats chronic ear infections for children at home;
- Rio Tinto Growth Innovation Category Winner - Leisure
Technologies Pty Ltd for their wireless towing and anti-theft system;
- Business News 'Great for the State' Platinum Award - Reliis Ltd for their Aqueous Quetiapine solution;
- Wesfarmers Wellbeing Platinum Award -Inspiring
Holdings Pty Ltd for their Novel Universal Spacer System; and
- Woodside Energy Platinum Award for Energy Innovation
- Innovation Energy Solutions for their autonomous solar cleaning robotics.
Prior to the awards
ceremony each finalist was able to take part in a wide variety of training and
development workshops to help grow their innovation and take it to the next
level.
The awards are sponsored
by primary sponsor Rio Tinto, along with Business News, Wesfarmers, Woodside
Energy, Griffith Hack, Nexia Australia, Wrays, CERI, Biodesign Australia,
Murfett Legal, Moore Australia and PwC.
For more information see
the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation WA Innovator of the
Year webpage: wa.gov.au/IOTY
Comments attributed to Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Stephen
Dawson:
"On behalf of the Cook
Government, I congratulate our six winners as well as all the other finalists
that took part in this year's Innovator of the Year awards.
"It was a very tough job
for the judges to choose the winners from such a wide range of amazing high
tech and innovative solutions and full credit to Portable PPB Pty Ltd for coming
out on top with their gold detector.
"All participants are
well deserved and for me as the State Minister for Innovation, it's fantastic
to see such a variety of innovation solutions that are being developed here in
WA.
"The Innovator of the
Year awards have been running for 17 years now and the level of talent continues
to grow and impress each year."
